


Transcendent

by cielmelodies



Series: Arashi Daemon!verse [1]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Angst, Daemon Separation, Daemon Touching, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Non Consensual Daemon Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-10-18 06:19:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10611015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cielmelodies/pseuds/cielmelodies
Summary: Arashi set in daemon-verse. A series of drabbles and ficlets based on 50 prompts from 50scenes(LJ), Table 4.10 prompts will be posted every week. Some prompts are interconnected with one another, some are not.There will be angst. There will be fluff. There will be instances where daemons are barely mentioned, and some that are just daemon-heavy.//Daemon(s): The physical manifestation of a human's soul (From His Dark Materials)[Completed]





	1. Prompt 1 to 10

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for a month or so now, so I'm so glad :D that I'm finally getting this out. Like legit, YAY. I enjoyed writing this series of drabbles, so, so much. Even if it requires me to hide in a very familiar hole for the next 5 thursdays (this thursday, inclusive) 
> 
> ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: This has nothing to do with matsu1nino's daemon AU. I have been working on this verse since I was working on the ABO verse - i.e, Dec/Jan, and I have proof of conversation with another writer that this verse was created independently, with nothing but **inspiration from our 5 golden boys and Pullman himself**. If you require evidence, feel free to find me on my LJ or DW (cielmelodies). 
> 
> For details on daemon(s), I shall prompt you to refer to here > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A6mon_(His_Dark_Materials)  
> I may or may not set up an introductory chapter at the end of this fic (lol introductory at the end) with detailed character sheets of their daemons, but for a brief overview of which daemon is whose and what they are...  
> 天海, Amami - Ohno's yellow garter snake. (Female)  
> ダボス, Davos - Sho's river otter. (Male)  
> 幸子, Yukiko - Aiba's Queen Alexandra's birdwing. (Female)  
> 丈晴, Takeharu - Nino's crow. (Male)  
> 千春, Chiharu - Jun's clouded leopard. (Female)  
> For meaning of their names, refer to End Notes.

  1. **Worms**



Aiba always found every animal interesting, and special. Everything, from big animals - staring in awe at whale sharks in the aquarium in Osaka, to the small ones, including worms.

Yes, worms.

Most of his classmates found them peculiar or _ew_ , but not Aiba, no. He loved these long, wriggly worm-like things. It earned him strange looks across his childhood, and typical childish ostracism, which escalated when his daemon, Yukiko, often assumed the form of a black caterpillar with bright red nubs running along her body. Despite feeling lonely from the lack thereof friends, Aiba was contented with having Yukiko by his side. He loved her, and she loved him back.

Aiba’s first, real, true friend was Nino. The day Aiba met Nino at Johnny’s, Nino’s crow daemon, Takeharu, took one look at Yukiko and didn’t look away, nor did Nino give him any strange looks besides a neutral one.

“You look particularly delicious, I must say.” Takeharu quipped to Yukiko.

And Yukiko settles into the largest, prettiest, Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly Aiba has ever seen, fluttering into the air and landing on the top of Aiba’s hair like a butterfly hairpin. (Forget that her colouring is the colour of male birdwings – She was gorgeous, and that’s all that mattered to Aiba, really).

  1. ******Vow**



There seemed to be an unending list of things Sho was doing wrong, in the eyes of his family, he thinks. Starting from the fact that Davos, his daemon, was male – because having daemons the same gender as their human weren’t that rare, but uncommon enough to be considered unnatural.

And then the fact that Davos settled as a river otter. Sho didn’t really care, but in a family of canine and lupine based daemons, having a weasel based daemon was, for the lack of a better word, a disappointment.

Black sheep.

When he received the acceptance offer to join Johnny’s agency, Sho knew his parents would never agree. But despite all the fears, and all the resistance Sho knew he and Davos would face, he doesn’t care – he accepted.

Just another black mark to his name on the Sakurai family tree. He doesn’t care. On the night his parents found out, Sho curled up around Davos, hugging the warm body tightly, and the two vowed to prove his family wrong.

They do.

  1. ******Bleed**



When Sho was in university, he took the chance and moved to an apartment, away from his family and all the frowns and the persistent questions on 'when will you quit?’ and the disapproving glances and whispers about him by his relatives as they stare at Davos.

If he's going to be a disappointment, then so be it.

And then several sets of finals came and went, and it was the end of his first year in Keio. Sho was surprised when he was invited for a family reunion, one with his relatives, but decided, why the heck not, right? He has come this far, three years down Keio, while juggling idol duties, even though right now Arashi isn't doing that well. But he made it up to here. It must mean something, right?

…He was wrong.

In hindsight, it might have been helpful to remove the (daemon-safe) piercing Davos had in his ear before they attended. It wasn't even a big one, no - just a small, tiny piercing in the shape of a wing, barely perceptible to the human eye unless they were in close proximity to Davos. Davos had wanted one, despite daemon piercings to be rare. But the otter was so proud of it, when it was done.

Which made it all the more horrifying when his father’s grey wolf daemon snarled and took a swipe at Davos, tearing the piercing forcibly out of his ear.

Davos shrieked and ran to Sho's arms immediately, ear bleeding. The echoing pain that Sho experienced from the injury bridged on unbearable, but he managed to pick up the fallen piercing, stained with blood, and walked out, expression unreadable.

The next day, when he walked into recording studio with Davos in his arms, torn ear bandaged, everyone in the band noticed.

The one who reacted first is Chiharu, Jun’s clouded leopard daemon, and leapt forward to nuzzle the injured otter. Contact between group members’ daemon was common in their group, especially between Chi-chan and Davos - everyone knew this. The sight of another daemon so close to Davos, however, spurred Sho to seize Davos onto his arms immediately, startling the feline.

If Sho had seen Jun’s expression right then, or noticed Chi-chan’s snarl at Jun when he picked up her up to stop her from going to Davos, Sho might have realized that more than Davos’ ear was torn within the span of the two days.

  1. ******Sore**



“...Davos, please, of all things holy, get off of me, before I or Sho get horny again. I'm already sore from last night.”

“Umm… I think it's too late for that.”

A warm hand meets a thigh. “Davos, why don't you go play with Chi-chan for a bit.”

“I think the both of us rather watch, to be honest.”

  1. ******Redeemer**



“Takeharu, ready?” a nine-year-old Nino glanced at his young daemon, who was shifting between a raccoon and weasel.

“Ready when you are, Nino,” The now-weasel blinked at his human, before peering over the street corner to observe their new target – Hideo-san, the ice-cream man on the street. In Nino’s hand, he held two free ice-cream coupons.

“Okay, shift now.” The weasel shook itself, and promptly shifted into a human, ostensibly impossible and unheard of, but somehow, the duo managed. Human-Takeharu was almost identical to Nino, and the young boy crossed his arms. “Could you make your face…less round?”

“My face is your face, and my face is not round.” Human-Takeharu mumbled, but scrunched his forehead in concentration as his face – well, Nino’s face, shifted to have slightly higher cheekbones. “Better?”

Nino grinned, and handed Takeharu the extra coupon. “If he asks, just say your daemon is shy and hiding in your shirt, okay?”

“And that we’re twin brothers, yes.” The daemon rolled his eyes. “Let’s go then. I want my ice cream.”

  1.      **Violence**



Hearing your parents’ daemons fight is a horrifying experience, Nino surmised, as he hid beneath his blankets, trying to ignore the shouting coming from the living room. Even worse than hearing their humans themselves fight, because... these are their souls. They were in love, weren’t they? How did it ever get to this?

From above his bed, he could distinctively hear his sister’s soft weeping from the top bunk bed, but he pretended to not hear it, especially when her daemon was consoling her, if the whispers were any indication.

Under his arm, Takeharu – currently a small rabbit, was trembling, burrowing deeper into Nino’s neck. From under his pillow, he could make out the sound of his father’s sun bear daemon snarl, followed by the sharp screech of his mother’s koala daemon.

He covered his ears. He wasn’t hearing this. He doesn’t want to.

  1. ******Sheep**



Nino shuffled uncomfortably in bed, back aching just a bit too much, too obvious, to allow him to go to sleep despite the bone-deep exhaustion that typically accompanied the end of a concert tour.

Sleep. He can sleep. He _wanted_ sleep, despite being that tempted to just whip out his DS and play until he passes out from tiredness.

“Stop thinking and sleep.” A mumble emerged from under the blanket next to him. Ohno’s tanned hand, peeked out of the blanket pile and lightly poked Nino’s side. “Flight is tomorrow. Why aren’t you asleep?”

Nino tsked, gingerly turning his body to face Ohno with a sulky expression. “Back hurts. Can’t sleep.”

Ohno’s sleepy face softened ever so slightly, and he wiggled closer to Nino, almost reminscent of Amami. “Turn around.”

Once Nino had done so, Ohno rested his forehead on Nino’s back, wrapping his arms around the gamer’s torso in a spoon. Nino exhaled - the warmth of Ohno’s sleepy body seeping into his sore back eased the pain a little, and he tiredly hummed.

“Sleep.”

“I can fall asleep in five seconds, unlike someone.” Nino snarked, to which Ohno simply squeezed him tighter.

“Count sheep.”

"…What are you, five?”

  1. ******Temptation**



“...Takeharu, is there a reason why you are... staring at me?” Ohno’s yellow garter snake hissed softly, slithering up to Ohno’s shoulder to peer closer at the crow. Ohno ignored their small exchange, instead continuing to sketch, barely affected by Amami’s weight on his shoulder – she was small, after all.

The crow cocked his head, and reached forward to touch his beak to Amami’s snout. Nino was recording his solo, which was why Takeharu was accompanying the two instead of being with his human. He did not looked affected by the distance between him and his human, likely because most bird daemons went through some form of separation training.

“You’re very tempting.” The crow’s tone was far politer, less snarky or sarcastic than Nino’s, but Amami reared up slowly, confused.

“Tempting?”

Takeharu leaned forward to look her in the eye. “Tempting enough to eat.” And then he quickly flew off to the corner of the room to play with Chi-chan’s tail.

Perhaps not politer than Nino.

  1. ******Spiral**



_Continues on the same timeline as Bleed,_

“Chi-chan. We should go home.” Jun gently nudged the clouded leopard with his knee. The stubborn feline kept moving towards Sho and Davos, who had taken a seat in the corner of the room, closed off and pressed together. Jun didn’t want to allow Chi-chan to get any closer, especially after Sho’s reaction – anyone could read that he didn’t want anyone to be touching Davos anytime soon.

Chi-chan snarled at Jun, baring her teeth at the human as she tried to pad over, only to be halted by Jun’s hands. “I want to see them! He’s hurt!”

Jun knelt by her head, and lightly tugged at the nape of her neck. “No, Chi-chan. I want to see if they’re okay as well, but Sho doesn’t want anyone touching Davos, didn’t you see his reaction?”

“I don’t care! I want to see him.” She whined, trying to push past Jun.

“No, Chi-chan!” Jun scolded, although he felt equally conflicted. He was equally concerned, equally in shock that someone had hurt Sho and Davos, but the pair had been clamped up all day, refusing to talk to anyone or tell anyone what had happened, besides singing when required to. “Don’t be stubborn.” He murmured, hugging Chi-chan as a last resort.

The leopard hissed angrily, and took a clawed swipe at Jun’s wrist. “No-!”

Jun blinked at the bleeding scratches in shock, watching as his own daemon stare at him with something akin to horror, and skittered back.

“It’s okay.” Jun murmured, although he had never been hurt by his own daemon before, and slowly reached out to stroke her fur.

The leopard jumped out of the way, and kept at her distance.

“I-I don’t understand why you’d do that to Sho and Davos. They need us.”

“They need space. When they are ready, they’ll tell us what happened.” Jun placated softly. “It’s not that I don’t care, Chiharu. They’re afraid, can’t you see?”

“They need us! You can see that. Why are you doing this to us?” She growled, digging her toes into the carpet. “I don’t understand, why can’t you be honest to yourself?”

“Chiharu.” Jun reached out to soothe her – to soothe himself, them; inside, his heart was thudding madly from emotions she was sensing. Betrayal. Confusion. Worry. “It’s not something we can fix now.”

“Don’t touch me!” She snarled, and leapt away from his hands. “If you want to go home, then fine! But I’m not talking to you!”

Whatever connection that was between Jun and Chiharu fizzled into a cold hatred that gripped Jun’s heart. It was so shocking, so foreign a sensation that Jun suddenly found himself, themselves, in a swirl of negative emotions that he couldn’t shake off. “Chi-chan…”

The cat turned away.

  1. ******Dial**



Jun found himself rudely awakened when his phone goes off in the middle of the night, Chi-chan barely stirring before reburying her head under Jun’s pillow. Jun blearily reached for the device, squinting at the caller ID.

Huh. It's Sho. Probably important.

Jun accepted the call and switched it to speaker mode, dropping it onto his pillow next to his head. “Hello?”

There was the sound of clattering, before Davos’ timid voice came over the line. “Jun?”

Jun’s eyes snapped open. Davos calling him was already peculiar enough, added with that fact thay he sounded so scared… “Davos? Where's Sho?” His hand naturally reached over to seek reassurance from his daemon, who was equally wide awake now, pressing her head into Jun’s chest.

“He...He’s really hot and I can't wake him up.”

Jun jerked, grabbing his glasses by the dresser and pulling his hoodie over his head.

“Are you feeling alright, Davos?” Chi-chan asked softly into the phone, tail flicking nervously when the otter replied a very scared “I don't feel very well.”

“We’ll be there soon. Jun’s just getting some supplies.” She reassured, ducking her a head to slip Jun’s phone strap (more like a lanyard, to allow her to help Jun carry his phone around her neck at times when he is on photoshoots or filmings) around her neck. Jumping off the bed, she briskly padded over to Jun, who was holding the door open for her, a rucksack slung over his shoulder and keys in his hand.

“Stay on the line with me?”

“Of course, little otter.”


	2. Prompt 11 to 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mood has been a bit not quite right all weekend, so I'm not up for posting the update for Arrhythmia, so that will be posted on Thursday.  
> This chapter and the previous one have now been crossposted on DW, if you prefer to comment there, etc. ^^   
> Same disclaimer from previous chapter still/always applies.

  1. ******Change**



_Set after Entwined (43)_...

The first sign of change was the relieving sight of Chi-chan clambering onto Jun's lap as and when possible, even on recordings and filmings when she’d usually just be _there_ but not around Jun. Even the management couldn’t say a thing regarding the issue, such as her being draped on Jun’s lap and refusing to move even when the camera’s were rolling, as fans just _loved_ the sight of Jun’s daemon being over-affectionate with Jun, given their prior coldness to each other.

Simultaneously, the rest of the band could breathe again, and Jun finally began to warm up to the others. It was a relief, like an abyssal gap between him and the others once again repairing itself.

And _finally,_ Jun no longer treated Sho like a plague. If anything, Chi-chan was ever more so clingy towards Davos, rubbing against the river otter even when he was mildly damp from his evening swim and then complaining to Jun, who would simply sigh and rub her down with his handkerchief. Sho knew that Davos felt pleased that Chi-chan was back to herself. Granted, Davos was Sho, so in truth the pair were pleased that both Jun and Chi-chan were happier, or going to be happier.

Then there was a second sign of change, one Sho was hesitant to consider a potential change, but was glad was happening.

Sho had received a cooler of fresh shellfish from the director and producer of his most recent drama filmiing, and was enjoying it with Davos (the river otter loved it as much as he did), when the couch Sho was sitting on sinked slightly. Sho turned, ark shell held between his chopsticks, and nearly jumped at the sight of Chi-chan, very close to Sho, eyes wide and pleading as she looked at Sho, and at then at the shellfish.

On the other side of the room, Jun had no visible response to his daemon’s actions, simply pushing his glasses up as he flickered through concert plans - the rest of the band had left already, leaving only the four together in the room.

It was not that Sho was not inclined to share his (and Davos’) shellfish with anyone, but Chi-chan was not the sort to go up to him, or anyone, for food. Nor use those large, dark wide eyes that remind Sho so much of Jun as a form of blackmail.

“There’s more over there, you know,” Sho gestured to the cooler box on the table. The clouded leopard did not respond, planting her rump on the couch and looking expectantly at Sho, tongue coming out to lick her snout slightly. Sho sighed, amused, and brought the ark shell close to her mouth using his chopsticks. Chi-chan gingerly picked the clam off with her teeth, before nodding to Sho and settling right next to him, indifferent to the looks Sho and Davos were shooting at her.

With a soft chitter, Davos grabbed surf clam from the box with his teeth and scampered to Jun. Resting on his haunches, the river otter sat up and offered the clam to Jun. Jun looked down curiously at Davos, eyebrows raised, but smiling softly at the otter.

“Join us at the couch?” Davos asked shyly, around the clam. Sho tried to keep his face nonchalant as Jun looked over to Sho and Chi-chan, feeding the clouded leopard a slice of razor clam sashimi with his chopsticks. Jun carefully took the surf clam from Davos’ teeth, consciously avoiding contact with Sho’s daemon before putting the concert plans down.

“Okay.”

Sho was not dancing internally in joy when Jun settles right next to him and steals his chopsticks, instead of grabbing a new pair on the table.

  1. ******Iris**



They do not go to the parks anymore, as a group, for photoshoots without a prior recce. There were two reasons:

Firstly, when Chi-chan accidentally brushed against a silvervine plant and she _and_ Jun ended up being high - i.e. Chi-chan trying to claw Takeharu and Yukiko out of the sky or trying to nuzzle Amami or nuzzle Davos to the point she just fell flat on her face, and then stayed on the grass like that, a happy, relaxed, puddle of feline.

(There was nothing wrong with her trying to nuzzle Amami, except that said snake daemon was only two feet long and about as thick as Ohno’s largest paintbrush; as a result, Chi-chan was more likely to nuzzle against empty air and end up falling _on_ _top_ of Amami, to Ohno’s amusement.)

Happy feline puddle was okay - it was adorable, and the other 4 daemons tried their best to keep her occupied and enjoy her relaxed state. Meanwhile…

Sho and Aiba had a difficult time keeping the suddenly over-affectionate Jun off _their_ laps as Jun tried to mimic Chi-chan on people instead of daemons.

“Jun, Jun, you’re an excellent hugger, but we’re in public!” Sho squawked at Jun clung onto Sho’s shoulder with one arm, and Aiba’s with the other. Aiba simply laughed, deliberately picking a stalk of silvervine and discreetly handing it to Takeharu. The crow daemon then dumped waved it right in front of the high cat, earning a very pleased meow as she began to rub against the ground.

“Aiba!” Sho sighed in fond exasperation - he had finally given up all pretenses to stop Jun from embarrassing himself, allowing Jun to nuzzle into his lap and then to Aiba’s and then seeking hugs from Nino and Ohno.

“It’s fun!”

Secondly, besides the feline pair, Yukiko, bless her soul, would go a bit binge happy with the sudden multitude of _flowers_ everywhere, and if she was not playing with Chiharu, she would likely be missing.

Yes, missing.

Even Aiba found it difficult to track Yukiko when the birdwing decided to go on a feeding frenzy and _tasting_ every random flower in a 20 metre radius around Aiba. One would think that identifying a foot long, giant, butterfly would be easy, but when said butterfly was green and black and fleeting from plant to plant to tree, it became extremely challenging.

And then she’ll get full and spends her sugar (nectar) high fleeting between all five members of the band, reporting her taste experiments and explorations.

“Masaki, Masaki! I found some milkweed and it was so sweet! But not as sweet as Ixora, but it’s really hard to land on those small flowers even though they are all inflorescence.”

“Yukiko… you know how you get on sugar highs…”

“Nino, Nino, those cone flowers are _really_ good, have you ever tried them?”

“...Aiba-shi, your butterfly is covered in pollen, I hope you realize that.”

“Oh-chan! I saw globe thistles! They were really blue - or were they purple? Hey, what do you call a colour that is neither blue nor purple but sort of in between? They were really round too.”

“Uh, violet?”

“Violet! That’s right, violet! Oh! Sho, those apple blossoms don’t actually taste like apples, you know. I wonder why. I’m sure there’s some chemistry involved during apple ripening but I’ll have to ask Masaki to take me to the library to ch-”

“Pretty butterfly. Can I touch, Sho?”

“Nonono, no touching Yukiko, Jun. Not even when you’re high.”

  1. ******White**



Ohno lowered his brush, unconsciously wiping his paint stained fingers on his T-shirt - an old one, dedicated for his oil-painting - and smearing light blue paint over the front of the shirt. Around his collar, Amami was curled around his neck like a pretty yellow necklace. Despite her cool scales against his skin, Ohno did not react as she reared up slightly, adjusting herself to brush against his cheek and taste his skin with a soft flick of her forked tongue.

“What do you think, Amami?” Ohno asked, tilting his head slightly to allow his cheek to rub against the top of her head.

A tail gently curled around his ear.

“Maybe a little more white, by the primary feathers.”  

  1. ******Sober**



_Set after Spiral (9)_ …

“Have you... noticed how Jun has changed, recently?” Aiba hesitantly asked the other three, Yukiko fluttering next to him. Sho and Ohno took a small glance at Jun, face blank as he flicked through the pages of his script, eyes trained on the lines and nowhere else. Chi-chan was perched on the dressing chair, slowly grooming herself, but far away from Jun, who was seated on the couch.

Nino continued to press the buttons of his DS rapidly, Takeharu resting on his shoulder to groom his hair.

“A bit colder, I realized.” Sho commented softly, gently stroking a sleepy Davos on his lap. The otter perked up instantly at the mention of Jun.

“Chi-chan doesn't seem to have changed though.” The otter chittered, slinking to peek at the other two. “Albeit a bit sadder, sometimes.”

“She's angry at Jun, I think.” Came Amami’s hissing, curling around Ohno’s collar and resting her head on his shoulder. “For a while now. They’ve always been stuck together like glue, but now Chiharu is at least a metre away from Jun.”

“Jun isn't trying to placate her? Catnip?” Aiba asked hopefully, but his butterfly daemon landed on his nose.

“That's not going to work, silly. Jun tried. I heard him a week ago, apologizing. She just walked away.”

“What did Jun do wrong?” Davos asked, puzzled. It was unlike the feline to be so unforgiving, given that Jun was one of the most generous one between them.

“It's not something he did wrong. It's something she cannot accept of him.” Takeharu interjected. Nino stayed stubbornly quiet.

The other six - three humans, three daemons, turned to look at the pair.

“But... She's his daemon. What do you mean she cannot accept something of Jun’s? That's about as oxymoronic as it gets.” Davos queried, scratching at his ear - now bearing a healed tear in his ear. Sho rubbed his ear.

Ohno picked at his nose, before tilting his head at Jun. “Let's just watch them for now. If it starts to affect him, we'll do something about it.”

There was a few hesitant nods, as well as a disgruntled chirr from Davos. Nino said nothing, instead standing up and walking to where Jun was, eyes still attached to the game. The three watched with halted breaths as Nino plopped right next to Jun, saying nothing, and as Jun just, very discretely, inched a bit closer to Nino, fingers clenching onto his script just a bit more tighter.

  1. ******Question**



“Sho?”

Sho looked down from his newspaper to peer curiously at the feline that was sitting on her haunches in front of him, looking up at him with a gaze that Sho knew meant she wanted something, probably. His heart clenched at the sight of the feline daemon alone in the room, Jun presently occupied in the other side of the building with a filming for his segment. The sight of their separated bond unnerved Sho, especially since he had witnessed how awful the process had been.

Now, it seemed like there was an unspoken rule that whenever Jun and Chi-chan had to be in different areas, she would have to be in Sho’s presence. It seemed as though Jun trusted no one with her except Sho and Davos since the two had been the one to take care of her over the separation.

“My ribbon’s untied. Could you fix it for me, please?”

Chiharu was about as fashionable as her human, always wearing a different collared ribbon every day of the week. Her favourite recently, Sho realized, was a bright red wide ribbon that she had been wearing almost every other day, the red colour contrasting well with her spotted coat. True to her words, the red ribbon was untied and skewed to the side.

“Don’t you want to wait for Jun?” He asked, but lowered his newspaper down and went down to kneel in front of her anyway.

“He’ll be a while. I want it fixed now. Davos can’t help because he doesn’t have any opposable thumbs.” Chi-chan’s tail sweeped in Davos’ direction, the river otter scoffing and scurrying to Sho’s side, resting his front paws on Sho’s shoulder.

“Says the feline. At least I can move my digits apart.” He waved his webbed front paw as an example.

Sho chuckled, carefully undoing the remaining knot. Mid-tie, Sho realized how precarious his position was, fingers resting very close to her fur in order to tie a proper bow. Pursing his lips, Sho gingerly tied a bow as well as he could without having to touch Chi-chan. As soft as her fur looked, Sho was half certain Jun would not appreciate it, right then.

“Okay?”

Chi-chan rumbled, pawing lightly at the tied bow. “It’s still too loose.” She complained. Sho sighed, and undid the bow once again. Really, this cat was about as picky as Jun was with their outfits . It was almost as though she _wanted_ Sho to touch her.

  1. ******Salt**



When Aiba was hospitalized, everyone visited him and Yukiko everyday, regardless of their schedule.

It was one thing to see the usually perky, upbeat man looking white on the hospital bed, but it always disturbed the other members more when they looked at the limp butterfly next to him, barely moving, and only greeting them with a soft flap of her wings, and nothing else. The sight was a harsh reminder of how _fragile_ they all were.

“Hey.” Aiba greeted softly as the four entered the hospital room, a folio held open in front of him. Closer inspection revealed that it was a plan for the upcoming Shimura Dobutsuen filming, and the four members shot him unimpressed frowns.

“You should be resting, not working.” Jun chided, leaning over to close the folder.

Behind them, their daemons had taken residence on the bed by Aiba’s blanket covered legs, looking curiously at the quiet Yukiko that was resting on Aiba’s shoulder. Aiba offered his hand (slowly) to the birdwing butterfly, allowing her to crawl on to him and then be brought closer to the rest of the daemons.

“We made you something, Yukiko!” Amami hissed, tongue flickering out to taste the air around the large butterfly.

Davos untied a wrapped bundle from around Chi-chan’s neck with his teeth and paws, revealing a small corked jar - barely an inch in diameter, and gingerly opened it with his teeth. “Sugar water.”

“I guess I should warn you that really, the four made it for her, on their own.” Nino drawled, plopping next to Aiba and taking out his DS, and his spare one. “Mario Kart, one on one?”

“It’s a bit…yellow?” Ohno peered into the jar.

“Google said a bit soy sauce would be good for butterflies.” Takeharu responded matter of factly, Davos nodding vigorously next to him. Sho and Jun snorted.

Chi-chan nosed Yukiko in an almost apologetic fashion. “I supervised. Or tried to. No promises.”

“It’s okay. Thank you.” Yukiko’s voice was a soft whisper, only really audible to the daemon’s as she extended her proboscis lightly tapped it against the surface of the liquid. With bated breath, the other four daemons waited for her verdict.

“...It’s sweet,” she started, and the other daemons, sans Chiharu (she sagged in relief), chirred/hissed/squawked in a job well done. “...a bit too much soy sauce, I think, though.”

  1. ******Buried Alive**



Daemon-daemon touching wasn’t as taboo as humans touching others’ daemons (sans lovers, of course), but it was usually a clear indication of closeness between said daemons’ humans.

That being said, all their daemons enjoyed the puppy piling… or at least, the equivalent of puppy piling when said ‘puppies’ were really a clouded leopard, a river otter, a crow, a small snake and a butterfly.

Jun jerked up from his seat when he heard Chi-chan yowling from the corner, the other four immediately shifting their vision to their daemons as well.

“Chiharu?”

The five members burst out in laughter at the sight of the disgruntled feline staring at the four daemons, piled atop of her back. “Get off me! You four are heavy!”

“I’m a butterfly. I can’t be heavy.” Yukiko quipped softly, wings flapping gently as she rested on top of Takeharu’s head, who was resting on Davos’ back. Amami had take residence around Davos’s paws.

“I have hollow bones, so I’m certain I’m not heavy, nor is Amami any heavier than me.” Takeharu pecked at Chi-chan’s tail when it swished over to him.

The cat hissed, but made no move to shove Davos off her back, despite Davos taking full advantage of her as a comfy seat and draping his entire body along her back, resting his full weight of her. “You’re heavy, Davos.”

“Blame the shellfish. And cheesecake.”

  1. ******Embrace**



“... Davos, what are you doing?” Chiharu mumbled into the couch’s cushion from where she was stretched across, sleepy but also conscious of the feeling of sated pleasure Jun was registering in the other room. The river otter had somehow managed to pull the small throw blanket that was draped over the back of the couch onto her, and was now attempting to squeeze underneath her foreleg.

“Cuddle.” He answered distractedly.

The clouded leopard chuffed in amusement, but lazily lifted said foreleg slightly to allow Davos under it. He immediately burying himself into her fur and kneading his paws into the thick undercoat. “You’re soft.”

“I hope you aren’t calling me fat.”

  1. ******Under**



_Continued from Dial (10)_

“Davos?” Jun called out into the dark apartment, living room dimly lit by a table lamp.

“Over here…” A small voice, very unusual of the typically boisterous otter, responded from the bedroom. The quietness of the voice only spurred the pair to hasten their steps to Sho’s bedroom, Jun wasting no time to sit on the edge of Sho’s bed to press a palm against his forehead, sweaty and flushed from an obvious fever.

Meanwhile, the clouded leopard had leapt up to nudge at the shivering otter by Sho’s feet. “We’re here, Davos. We’ll take care of you, little one.”

“I’m older than you.” Davos weakly protested, but curled around the warmth of the clouded leopard. “Is...Is he okay, Jun?”

Jun gave the otter a smile, but it was obvious that it was force. “He’ll be okay, Davos. Just a high fever, nothing a nice shower wouldn’t fix.”

“I told him to stay at home but he didn’t listen.” The otter whined, climbing onto Chi-chan’s back at the feline’s request.

“Well,” Jun said with a grunt, slipping Sho’s arm over his shoulder and lifting the fevered man up. “He is as stubborn as you are, Davos. Come on, to the bathroom. The tub is always filled up for you, isn’t it?” With some difficulty, Jun managed to haul Sho into the filled tub, not bothering to shed Sho’s clothes. Thankfully, the water was lukewarm, as always, left for Davos to swim around when they were home, and after a little wiping of Sho’s fevered forehead with a hand towel, the man jerked awake with a low moan.

“Sho!” Davos squealed, weakly scrambling up the steps but not managing the final few, collapsing in a shivering slump - clearly, the fever was affecting him badly as well. Chi-chan purred and softly nudged him, calling out Jun’s name softly in concern.

Jun merely grabbed the nearest towel and reached over to grab the otter, shushing the whimper the action brought.

“'avos?” Sho mumbled, hearing his daemon’s voice and whimper. His eyes fluttered and hand searched the water blindly in search for his daemon, but upon making splashes, Jun tutted.

“Settle down, Sho, he’s right here.” Jun soothed as he lowered the otter right into Sho’s chest, then guiding the searching hand onto the wet fur. “He called me when he couldn't wake you up. You have an awful fever.”

Sho’s eyes opened just a bit. “J-Jun?” His eyes closed, and he let out a low groan. “Head hurts. Cold, feels like I’m underwater.” Jun shushed him, pressing his hand against Sho’s forehead again to feel his temperature.

“You are in water, that’s for sure. Your fever is a little better, but just a little while more in here, and I’ll settle you back in bed, alright?” Jun murmured, gently brushing away some of Sho’s hair from his face. “Idiot. You should have told someone you weren't feeling well. Davos was so worried.”

“So were we.” Chi-chan added, lifting her forelegs to rest on the edge of the tub. “Don't do that again.” She chided, although her voice had no heat, only concern. Sho let out a small hum of agreement, clearly not fully awake, but his hand was softly stroking Davos’ back. Jun ran his own hand through Chi-chan’s fur, before standing up to find Sho a change of clothes and another towel. “Watch them for me, Chi-chan.”

  1. ******Movie**



“Claws, Chi-chan. Watch the claws.” Jun murmured softly at the feline daemon that was draped over his lap, eyes glued to the horror movie that was playing in Sho’s apartment.

“Why is he so stupid and going in there alone?” She whined, trying but failing to bury her head into the blanket but failing. On the carpeted floor and in a nest of blankets, Davos was watching the show in equal rapture as Jun, tail thumping against the pile of fabric.

“Shh.” Jun hushed her as the protagonist reached over to grip the curtain and pull it aside and…

Sho let out an extremely unmanly loud yelp when a clown suddenly jerked into view, causing Chi-chan to jump a foot into the air and bury herself next to Davos, while Sho clutched onto Jun. The added weight caused the two men to topple into sideways on the couch.

The clouded leopard shot Sho the stinkeye, but took advantage of Davos’ distracted state to nose into his fur, hiding her face.

“There, there.” Jun snickered as he patted Sho’s hair, then blushing when he realized that their faces were really close to each other.

Sho’s eyes had taken on a darker look, rather than the wide-eyed fear it had been only a few moments ago. The air between them was suddenly a little too thin, not enough for what Jun was anticipating and hoping for Sho to do. There had been vast changes between their dynamics in the past few months - an inexplicable trust for Sho ever since Sho took care of Chiharu during their separation.

Not that Jun wasn’t grateful for the others for taking care of _him_ , but Chi-chan was his daemon, his soul. It seemed whatever distance was between them was replaced gradually by warmth, something that was both lovely, but also dangerous all at the same time, as Jun began feeling something peculiar for Sho.

Peculiar and warm and fluttery, especially when Sho returned the shy, furtive glances and passing touches that hinted to Jun that this might be more than just the one-sided crush that was their relationship when they had just started out in Johnny’s. Not to mention the sudden invitations for dinners and movie nights like they were in.

Sho’s hand reached up to cup Jun’s cheek, and he leaned forward. Jun’s breath caught, eyes closing as his arms curled around Sho’s torso, waiting, just waiting as Jun felt Sho’s warm breath near his lips and…

The doorbell rang.


	3. Prompt 21 to 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a/n in the bottom of this chapter, which you may choose to skip or not skip ^^ It's nothing big...ish.

  1. ******Cage**



“She’s not venomous!” Ohno protested vehemently at his home-room teacher and classmates, as they eyed Amami, coiled around his wrist. Amami had settled yesterday to the prettiest looking garter snake Ohno had ever seen - she wasn’t big, nor was she aggressive in any way, yet jut because she was a snake, everybody immediately assumed that she was dangerous; That he was dangerous. “She won’t hurt anybody.”

His teacher cleared her throat, her own springhare daemon hopping nervously on the table. “That might be the case, Ohno-kun, but we don’t kno--”

“I know! Amami is mine! She’s a garter snake! She can’t hurt anyone.” Amami crawled up his arm slowly, and his classmates that were in a two metre radius flinched. Ohno tucked his hand closer to his chest, eyes prickling at the hostility. “Please. Please don’t cage her. Us.”

  1. ******Unforgiven**



_Runs parallel to Trauma (26)..._

The river otter clambered under the table, where the trembling clouded leopard was hiding, curled up in a small pile. “Chi-chan.” Davos mewled, softly nosing the feline’s neck. “Are you okay?”

Sho sat down outside the table, a large blanket, stolen from one of the offices, in his hand as he let his daemon do the talking to lure Chi-chan out, forehead pinched in a frown.

“Leave me alone.” Chi-chan growled weakly, curling tighter to hopefully deter the stubborn otter, but to no avail. Using his front paws, Davos pawed into the small opening that was to the feline’s body, and slipped inside to nuzzle with her.

“You're shaking. Come out. It's cold under here.”

“No. You'll make me go back to Jun.” Chi-chan whined, but made no effort to push Davos away.

“We won't. But you mustn't be feeling well. Just to get warm? Some food?”

The leopard growled lowly, but grudgingly agreed, gait uneasy as she crawled out, to right in front of Sho. Meeting his concerned gaze, Chi-chan yowled weakly, and stepped into the warm blanket. “Don't bring me back to him.” She whined, when Sho wrapped her up tightly and hugged her close to his chest. “Please don't.”

Sho bit his lip, but he'd never betray Jun, nor Jun’s soul, and simply held her close, crooning at her whimpers when the pain of being far from her human wracked her body. “Please don't keep hurting yourself.” He mumbled, heart hurting from the sight of Jun’s hating himself - is this what self-hate looked like?

  1. ******Meditate**



“Jun.”

…

“Jun.”

…

“Jun~!”

“What?” Jun turned to face the sheepish looking otter - how does Jun know what otters look like when they’re sheepish? He doesn’t; he just spends too much time with Sho, in general. The peeking round ears behind the couch informed Jun that Davos and Chiharu are bad influences for each other.

“What’cha doing?”

Jun let out a slow exhale, trying to not get annoyed at the cute-but-threatening-his-patience daemon. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Staring blankly at your bonsai.”

From behind the otter, Jun could pick out Chi-chan’s soft chuffing sounds that Jun knew was her version of chuckles. He twitched.

“I’m attempting to meditate. Until I was rudely interrupted.”

“Why were you trying to meditate?”

“...Sho! Take your daemon before I slaughter him!”

“Doesn’t that defy the point of meditating?”

  1. ******Dust**



Jun sneezed for the nth-time of the day, eyes red and teary and nose dripping unglamourously. Chi-chan circled his feet in sympathy, knowing exactly how Jun felt when he forgot to take his allergy meds or they decided to wear off too early in the day or before their day ended. Thankfully, daemons were spared from the plight that was seasonal allergies, but they were able to sense their human’s discomfort. In this case, Jun was staying late in the agency building as he was involved with concert planning, and unfortunately, his pills don’t last for more than fifteen hours.  

“Do you want me to find someone with allergy pills in the building?” Chi-chan asked with great concern as she dropped a box of tissues on his lap, and nuzzled his leg.

Jun blew his nose and sniffed pathetically, shaking his head. “It’s alright. Just an hour or so left.” He rubbed his itchy eyes. “Just…. One more hour.”

The feline rumbled her agreement, but tried to comfort him by jumping onto his lap and burying her face into his chest. Jun’s hand naturally went to stroke her fur, sighing tiredly.

And then a strip of allergy meds fell atop of his head, and Jun looked up in surprise, catching them before they fell to the side. A familiar looking crow cawed, and then settled next to them on the arm-rest, his human nowhere to be found.

Jun reached for his phone and sent a quick thank you text to Nino.

  1. ******Unaffected**



Most people don’t react well to snake daemons. The general opinion of them are that humans with snake daemons are vain or loners because they don’t like people, or simply, _dangerous_ , because… well, snake. They are deeply misunderstood, because some snakes, or most of them, are actually non-hostile, preferring to keep to themselves and satisfied in just watching and reading people, rather than being actively involved in the conversation. Not saying that all of them are like that, of course, but in the case of Ohno…

Amami was the sweetest snake, anyone who had met her can vouch for that, and she was an mirror image of Ohno - quiet, unassuming, soft-spoken, but sensitive to the atmosphere (quite unlike Ohno, who was sensitive towards reading people).

However, societal stereotypes made it difficult for most people to react positively at a first meeting when they find out Amami is a snake. A small, yellow, two-feet long snake, but a snake nonetheless.

It was unfortunate, but Ohno was unconcerned. Even when he and Amami was greeted with surprised looks when Arashi first debuted.

Surprised looks, slight fear, but there was none of that from Nino and Takeharu, who had taken one look at the pair and promptly decided that they liked him, unaffected by the fact that Amami was a snake.  

  1. ******Trauma**



Aiba hesitantly approached Jun, who was seated in the couch of the green room and looking distinctly pale as he stared blankly at the door Chi-chan had ran off too. When Aiba touched his shoulder in a way of comfort, Jun flinched wildly, and it became almost evident that Jun was _shaking_.

Sho and Davos had followed Chi-chan after witnessing the brutal argument that erupted between the two, Chi-chan basically hurling criticism at Jun and Jun just taking it as his own daemon called him _selfish_ , _indecisive, dishonest with himself, pushing everyone away, making a mess of their relationship with their friends and cutting people off and_ “I can’t stand you!” before the feline fled out of the room.

She shouldn’t have been able to get too far, yet… the concept of them being forcibly separated - or was it even forced when one side of a soul voluntarily parted - scared Aiba greatly. There were many tales of daemon separation, be it voluntary or forced, that the pain as one’s soul is stretched away from their human, beyond their limits may drive both sides to madness, death… or if they survived, the trauma of the separation forever a scar on their psyche.

Nino went through a separation - and he doesn’t talk about it. Ever.

Just as Nino and Ohno walked through the door and took in the scene, Jun reached over to clutch at Aiba’s arms, shaking and burying himself into Aiba’s hug, softly sobbing for Chi-chan.

  1. ******Seduction**



Jun turned to his side, doing his best to not dislodge the mass that was Chiharu and Daos that were curled up at their feet, atop the blankets. Smirking to himself, he lightly trailed his fingers down Sho’s shoulder. Sho shifted, revealing the sharp planes of his body that Jun absolutely loved to worship. His deltoids, his clavicles, and his biceps. His hands. His fingers.

With a sudden thought, Jun leaned in, and took a finger into his mouth, licking it and sucking it nice and slow. He absolutely loved Sho’s fingers - long, beautiful - and he could take them into his mouth for as long as it took for Sho to wake up.

A soft nibble against the fingerpad caused Sho to let out a soft snuffling sound, eyes fluttering open.

  1. ******Drowning**



_Happens after Trauma (26) and Unforgiven (22)_

“Do something, for fuck’s sake Sho. He’s barely keeping anything down. Anymore and we're taking him to the hospital.”

“Chi-chan, please.”

“Not until he admits it!”

“He already apologized. He's hurting so much.”

“He's selfish!”

“You're selfish! He’s you! He's begged for you to come back. He's mumbled delirious apologies since you've been separated. What more do you want from him?”

“D-don’t shout at her!”

“Jun-”

“C-come home to me when you're ready, Chi-chan. Don't force yourself. I'm sorry, I'm sorry for pushing away our feelings because of fear. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't care about our feelings. I’m...I’m…”

“Jun?”

“Ju, Jun! Hey, oh forget it, call the hospital.”

“Nino? Aiba, what's going on?”

“He just collapsed.”

  1. ******Vital Signs**



The first time Ohno and Nino touched each other’s daemons, they were slightly drunk but still very much utterly in love with each other. Takeharu had perched himself on Ohno’s clothed shoulder, Amami still coiled on his wrist nearest to Nino. Nino had pressed himself as close to Ohno’s side as one humanely could without melding into the person himself.

Ohno was shooting Nino the soft look he reserved for Nino only, hand reaching up to just rest mere millimetres above Takeharu’s head. The crow was strangely silent, simply cocking his head and peering at Ohno’s head. They trusted each other enough to know that neither had malicious intentions should they touch each other’s daemons, but still…

“Can I?”

In response, Nino reached for his other hand, and with a small finger, gently caressed the top of Amami’s triangular head.

Instantly, Ohno shivered at the contact, unconsciously leaning into Nino as his breath stuttered in his throat, entire body warming in the most gentle, swelling pleasure he had ever experienced. The pleasure was not a tsunami of feelings, rather, a light stirring of waves lapping at the edges of his mind, like small kisses they traded on the darkness after concerts, but also a fiery undertone that was familiar of the demanding kisses Nino gave, when they were alone and in bed.

Almost instinctively, Ohno’s hand fell to touch Takeharu’s feathered head. Ohno had drawn Takeharu often, imagined what each feather felt like - and now he knew. It was cold, just a little too smooth and stiff but then just under the plumage, he could feel his warmth seeping to his fingers, the fast heartbeat of Takeharu fluttering beneath his hand…

Nino had started releasing soft pants of pleasure, eyes dazed and clouded in bliss as Amami slithered onto Nino’s hand instead, leaving Nino free to move and clutch onto Ohno as he straddled Ohno, movements desperate as though he _needed_ Ohno, needed him to be close like he needed Amami and Takeharu to be closer.

  1. ******Soap**



_Happens after Movie (20)_

“That blasted crow, I swear to all things…” Jun muttered under his breath unhappily as he and Sho washed the dishes - him washing the dishes and Sho wiping them. At their feet, Chi-chan and Davos were playing catch, nuzzling each other at each opportunity. Whereas Sho and Jun were far used to the two daemons touching each other, after their… interrupted moment, they were suddenly especially aware of the small surges of warm in their chest when the clouded leopard and river otter even so much as _brushed_ against each other.

Jun was extremely jealous, and given the glares Sho was throwing at the trio that were making a ruckus outside, it was likely that Sho felt the same. Jun didn’t even think that it was possible to be jealous of your own daemon!

But for now, their interrupted to-be-kiss had only led to the two feeling awkward and sharing shy glances and smiles.

“I didn’t think birds have good hearing, to be honest.” Chi-chan chirred from behind them, sounding entirely satisfied with her position of being cuddled by Davos. Jun glared at the pair, and flickered some soap bubbles at the pair, knowing how much the feline disliked being wet. “Jun!”

Their short exchange was interrupted by the sounds of the Aiba coming into the small kitchen. “Hey, Sho-chan, do you happen to have any beer in the fridge?”

“Yes.” Sho replied shortly, then rolling his eyes when he realized it wasn’t just Aiba trying to enter the small kitchen, but also Nino and Ohno. While the space was big enough for one to two people to be in it comfortably, once it turned into _five_ … it would be far too crowded.

True to his words, the kitchen was suddenly occupied by too many people, Chi-chan and Davos scuttering away into the corner before they could be caught in the sudden influx of people.

And then Nino pushed Aiba into Sho who lost his balance, and Jun turned to catch Sho before he fell and hit his head… and their lips met in the most unglamourous of ways. Jun let out an unexpected squeak. Finally gaining his balance, Aiba apologized rapidly, hitting Nino for pushing him when he realized how Nino and Ohno was watching the other pair with a smug and stunned silence, respectively.

Deciding that the kiss was far more important than their audience, Sho distractedly lowered the cloth he was drying the dishes with to wrap his arms around Jun and adjusted their liplock. Jun closed his eyes, sighing into the kiss, because _finally_ , this was Sho and warm and soft but also hard as Jun promptly forgot that his hands were wet and soapy, and wrapped his arms around Sho’s nape to deepen their kiss.

Beside them, Chi-chan and Davos were cheering with happiness, as with the other daemons, who seemed to be equally ecstatic as well, and keen to watch their makeout session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone.  
> This small a/n is to inform you that I can no longer follow a regular posting schedule because of personal matters, RL, whatever you call it. But basically, following a regular Monday-Thursday schedule is not helping me at all, so... I'll do my best to post as and when I can, but I can no longer guarantee a specific posting day, and a posting order. Thank you for all your support/comments/readership in my stories, be it if you've read one or all or a few. ^^. Especially if you're waiting for me to update Transcendent or Arrhythmia.


	4. Prompt 31 to 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone. RL has been painfully busy. One update per week, so it seems. I have midterms in two weeks so.... *sobbles* 
> 
> Chapter is self-betaed.

  1. ******Pixie**



Aiba loved working with children, or being with children, in general. Despite his poor experiences with childhood bullying and being well-verse with daemon discrimination - especially prevalent with children, Aiba made it a habit to advocate daemon equality, starting with children. 

Their reactions to Yukiko, of course, always made him smile, albeit in a bittersweet way. 

“Look, ma! A fairy!” 

“That’s a butterfly daemon, sweetheart, not a fairy.”

“A fairy!”

“I’ll be a fairy if you want me to be one, little one.” 

  1. ******Doll**



If there was one thing Aiba and Yukiko knew about Takeharu and Nino that the others didn’t, it would have been the fact that Takeharu liked cuddles. 

Yes. Takeharu. Crow.  _ Corvus corax _ . 

While it was true that the prevalent stereotype of most bird daemons were that they were solitary beings, what most people forgot was that crows lived in familial flocks. 

Naturally, Aiba never cuddled with Takeharu, but he had witnessed said crow flying from his perch to Nino’s thigh, and then lightly rubbing his head against Nino’s side like a puppy. Aiba had to bite his cheek to stop himself from cooing at the cute sight, fingers twitching to hug the large bird. 

Besides cuddling with Nino, Takeharu also freely nuzzled their daemons at work. It was a strange sight - seeing a scary crow nuzzle against a big butterfly or a snake - but a heart-warming one as well, and it gave Aiba inspiration for his next project: seeing how birds often slept on their perch, as compared to how other daemons would usually sleep near their humans, Aiba decided he was going to give Takeharu something to sleep with.

“... you’re giving me a doll?” Nino looked strangely at Aiba, when he finally presented Nino and Takeharu with a human-shaped...thing. Nino poked the doll, eye twitching slightly at the misshapen head with dark brown yarn sewn on as hair. It was dressed in a familiar costume, a pink hoodie with numerous other soft, colourful blobs attached across its chest. “...is this me?” 

Aiba nodded excited, and waved his bandaged fingers (from stabbing himself with needles and pins) with more eagerness than Nino felt he should have. “It’s Nino-doll! And it’s not for you, it’s for Takeharu.” 

The crow daemon and Nino stared at Aiba in confused silence, until Aiba turned the doll around to reveal two clips attached to its back. “It can be attached to your perch! So you have a Nino to cuddle with at night.” 

Nino opened his mouth in preparation to respond with some snark, but Takeharu beat him to it when he flapped his wings and gently picked up the proffered Nino-doll with his talons. He briefly tugged on Aiba’s hair with his beak in affection, before returning to Nino’s shoulder.

“Nino will put it up for me tonight. Thank you, Aiba-chan.” 

Aiba’s beaming smile shut Nino up instantly.

  1. ******Silence (Prompt 59, Swapped from System)**



“Alright, you’re cool enough.” Jun evaluated, grabbing the towel and opening it up in front of Sho, cajoling lightly, “come on, put Davos up here. Chi-chan will take care of him while I take care of you.” Sho blinked slowly at the request, before raising the limp otter with shaking hands, and carefully placing him into the towel proffered. Jun didn't shift at the added weight, gently cradling the otter in his arms before lowering it on top of the large feline, resting Davos on her back.

“Come on, little otter, let's get you warm and dry.” Chi-chan reached backwards to nuzzle at Davos’s muzzle, before slowly padding her way back into the bedroom, careful to not drop him. 

Ignoring the two daemons, Jun unplugged the tub and began tugging Sho’s shirt away, quickly wrapping a new towel around Sho’s exposed shoulders. “Out you go.”

With a little maneuvering and (plenty of) support from Jun, Sho managed to stumble out of the tub and remove his wet pants, before Jun promptly sat him down on the toilet seat and began the process of drying him up. Once dried, dressed, and tucked back into bed with Davos curled up next to Chi-chan at the foot of the bed, Jun pressed a cooling patch onto Sho’s forehead. “How are you feeling now?”

Sho licked his dry lips - Jun made a mental note to get him to drink some water before Sho fell asleep - and reached forward to grab Jun’s hand. “I'm sorry for dragging you here at this time.”

Jun blinked and tilted his head slightly as he leaned over to brush Sho’s damp hair away from his forehead. He tutted at Sho’s shiver and tugged the blanket more snugly around Sho’s shoulders. “It’s alright. Someone needs to take care of you. You should have told someone that you weren’t feeling well.” 

“I don’t need someone to take care of me. I’m an adult.” Sho’s mumble was so full of petulance, Jun and Chi-chan could help but laugh and chuff respectively. 

“Sure, you don’t.” 

“I don’t.” Sho repeated, burying himself under his blanket. Jun rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and tugged the blanket down in response. 

“Don’t do that. You’ll overheat.” 

“But I’m cold.” 

“That’s because you have a fever.” Jun tsked. “Go to sleep. I’ll send your manager a message in the morning.” 

Sho hurriedly grabbed onto Jun’s hand when Jun stood up. “Stay the night? It’s late and you have work tomorrow morning, don’t you? You can stay in the guest room and borrow something from my clos--” 

A finger on his lips silenced Sho, who nearly went cross-eyed trying to focus on it. “Calm down. I was planning on staying anyway. Someone needs to feed you in the morning.” Sho visibly relaxed on the bed at the words, and Jun gently combed his hair in response. “I do have work in the morning, so let us both get some rest.” 

Sho nodded sleepily, relaxing at the thought that Jun would be nearby, at least. Strangely enough, the heavy weight of Chi-chan did not leave his blanketed legs that night, but Sho could not find it in himself to complain, especially when the weight was more a comfort than a hindrance. 

  1. ******Buttercups (Prompt 54, Swapped from Encounter)**



December wasn’t the best time for flowers in Japan. Winter, of course, meant a lot of snow and cold breezes that sent nature into a state of hibernation: grasses dried a dull brown, with only the purple and green leaves of oriental  _ Brassicaceae  _ to decorate the cityscapes. With Christmas looming closer, the red of Poinsettias would further add to the colours of the city, but there was a problem with having only decorative cabbages and christmas-themed plants around…

None of them were really ideal for butterfly consumption. Of course, Yukiko didn’t mind the sugar water that Aiba prepared for her, but everyone knew that the little thing vastly preferred the myriad of flavours available to her from natural flowers. Poinsettia  _ was _ fit for butterfly consumption, but no one in the band felt that it was proper for her to  _ just _ be drinking the equivalent of christmas nectar on their birthday.

Which was what led them to bring four separate bouquets of summer wildflowers to Aiba’s birthday dinner on Christmas eve, besides their own separate presents for Aiba. Nevermind that they had been shipped from Okinawa to Tokyo, and that the reserved private room smelled like someone mixed a flower farm with grilled meat; the sight of grateful tears in Aiba’s eyes and hyperactive butterfly made them decide to turn birthday bouquets into a yearly tradition. 

  1. ******Lithium**



It took only a light brush of Chi-chan’s fur against Sho’s wrist to send Sho nearly flying to the other side of the sofa. Sho stared wide-eyed at the leopard, who was looking at him with a sad, innocent gaze, as though she wasn’t just requesting for something intimate and personal, in a room with the rest of the band, no less. 

Jun had frozen mid-conversation with Aiba at the contact and was staring in shock at his own daemon, and naturally, that gained the attention of everyone in the room. Nino, Ohno and Aiba, as well as their daemons, looked in eager interest at what was to unfold. 

“Chi-chan…” Sho murmured warningly as the clouded leopard prowled over to him slowly, in an almost predatory fashion - tail and head held low, but ears pricked up in friendliness. Sho couldn’t help but shoot helpless, almost nervous looks at his boyfriend, who was unfortunately also occupied with the presence of Davos, who decided it was an excellent time to circle Jun’s ankles and causing him to fall with a huff. “Chi-chan, what do you think you’re doing?” 

It took an amazing amount of effort for Sho to keep his bare hands up and away from the feline’s large body, especially when she clambered onto his lap and situated herself comfortably there. 

“Marking territory. Sort of like Davos, right now, actually.” She lazily replied, tail swishing and just barely grazing Sho’s ear. The brief contact was enough to send a rush of pleasure down Sho’s spine, fingers twitching to feel more of her, of Jun. Sho looked over at his daemon, and couldn’t help but squeak at the sight of Davos cheerfully nuzzling against Jun’s clothed chest, also all over Jun’s lap. Next to Jun, Aiba was doing his utmost to hide his mirth at their sudden predicament. 

“We’re among people! What’s gotten to the both of you?” Jun hissed, although his voice held no anger, only great confusion. It was a far less compromising position, given that they were simply around the band and no one else, but nevertheless, it was a dangerous situation where anyone could walk in. 

“No no, this is the best entertainment we’ve had all week. Carry on, please.” Nino didn’t bother to hide his amusement, almost cackling in glee at the pair’s discomfort. 

“We got impatient. You both wouldn’t touch us.” Davos chirped helpfully as he tried to clamber even higher up Jun’s chest, lapping innocently at Jun’s cheek. 

“Because we just got together a week ago!” Sho exclaimed, stuttering nervously as Chi-chan curled ever closer against him. Thankfully, they were all in suits since they had just finished filming their MV, so it was easy to avoid directly touching the overeager daemons, but nevertheless, the heavy warmth of Chiharu on his lap was only tempting Sho to stroke her. Jun seemed to be having the same trouble, leading to Sho to look pleadingly at Ohno and Aiba (Nino was not going to be helpful, period).

Seeing the desperate look, the pair helpfully tugged Nino by the collar and out of the door, who whined all the way until the door closed behind him. 

“Why must the two of you be so stubborn and impatient?” Jun sighed, letting his hands fall onto the carpet floor and looking down at the eager otter, the daemon’s dark eyes bright with excitement. 

“Because you both are. Don’t go pretending you haven’t wanted to touch each other for so long. We’re just projecting your desires, you know.” 

“You sound suspiciously like Takeharu. What has that crow been teaching the both of you, Chi-chan, Davos?” Sho narrowed his eyes, then grunted when the feline pushed insistently against his shoulder with her forehead. “Jun, what do you --?” 

The question died in his throat when the deepest feeling of pleasure caressed at his mind - not pleasure, Sho corrected himself, as he suddenly sagged against the sofa, groaning softly at the contact.  _ What was this… feeling?  _ He had heard about it from Ohno, who softly shared with him what it felt to to have Nino touched Amami - of comfort and home, of their soft affections, of Nino - but the pair had been together for months, years even, whereas Sho and Jun had just shared their first kiss just the previous week, amidst soap and catcalls. 

But they have had known each other for years, and were closer for the many months before things fell apart, and had been getting closer again in the recent months. To be honest, Sho was fearful of someone touching Davos again, after that incident that had left Davos with the notch in his ear and Sho, a phantom feeling of emptiness on at the cartilage of his own ear, but as Jun lifted the mewling Davos closer to his face and gently caressed the otter’s scarred ear with his lips, Sho couldn’t help but shiver. 

He felt that, he definitely felt that. Deep, unadulterated adoration and care and love, so strong and unyielding, capable of stealing whatever breath Sho had left in his lungs and voice in his throat. 

And he felt Jun’s burning gaze upon him as Sho lowered his hand onto Chi-chan’s spotted coat, Sho’s lip parted in rapture as his fingers buried themselves into her warm fur. The sudden but gently effusion of electricity between the four was unmistakable - with Jun touching ( _ kissing _ ) Davos as Sho touched ( _ embraced _ ) Chi-chan; it was so comfortable that Sho could cry, if he could actually  _ breathe _ in the first place. There was no reason to be thrifty about his touches, as Sho simply hugged the daemon and pressed his cheek against her coat. He didn’t need home if he could have Jun and the outpouring, intense love he offered Sho. 

Close to him, Chi-chan was purring, deep rumbling sounds that nearly shook Sho as he held onto the warm body that was Jun’s soul - Jun - and let himself be swallowed by the intoxicating surge of emotions.  

  1. ******Ideal**



“So, Ohno-san, won’t you share with us, what is your ideal woman?” 

“...Ideal woman?”

“Yes. Or an ideal partner. Someone you would like to date.” 

“...I like someone with small hands. Someone who doesn’t mind my hobbies.” 

“Oh, so you prefer someone who share your hobbies, then?”

“No. The person doesn’t have to have the same hobbies as I do. In fact, I’ll still be happy if the person has their own hobbies and life. I think, what’s important at the end of the day is that after a long day of work, we can just sit together, we don’t even have to talk, and they can be doing their own thing, but we can still appreciate each other’s presence and seek comfort in it.”

“That’s the longest answer you’ve ever given on TV, Oh-chan.”

“Shhh, don’t ruin the moment, Nino.”  

  1. ******Pretense**



“Go back to Jun, Chiharu. Stop doing this to yourself.” Sho softly begged the slumped over Chi-chan. Davos was curled around the shivering feline, chittering his agreement as he nuzzled worriedly against her cheek. Sho’s hand fluttered uselessly above her, forehead pinched as he struggled to decide what to do next. 

One part of him couldn’t bear to see Jun and Chi-chan suffer like this, but the other part of Sho couldn’t bring himself to actively drag Chi-chan to Jun either, against her - Jun’s - will. Especially after how broken Jun sounded. 

“...No.” Chi-chan whimpered, “I don’t want to.” 

Sho let out a frustrated sound, dropping onto his knees as he covered the daemon with the same thick towel and rubbed her back comfortingly. “He-- you’re both suffering. Why are you hurting yourself? Please...” 

“He’s always hiding his feelings. Second guessing everything. Can’t be honest with himself. I can’t…” 

“He’s you!” Sho cried out, gathering up the limp feline and clutching her close to his chest. “He’s you. I can’t say I know why Jun does what he does, but you do.”

“I do!” Chi-chan yowled weakly, wriggling in the swaddle Sho had put her in. “Which is why I...I…”

Sho held tightly onto Chi-chan, unwilling to let her go . “If you hate him, don’t you realize that it means he hates himself too? For the same reasons. Why won’t you provide him some reprieve instead and share his pain? How much do you want hurt him? Hurt yourself?” 

The feline stayed silent, but stilled in her attempts to move away (not that she could, Sho was certain), instead shaking in Sho’s grip. 

“It scares me so much, to see you both like this. I can't lose you both, Chiharu.”

For a short moment, Sho yearned to touch Chi-chan in hopes of comforting or soothing Jun’s wounded soul, but he knew that such an action was impossible, at least in this point of time. The temptation was great, however, and Sho would not deny his jealousy at the sight of his own daemon being able to comfort Chi-chan’s tremors more personally than he could. 

“...Sho?”

Sho looked down at the precious daemon he was embracing (even if it was through a towel). Chi-chan whined softly, then closed her large, dark eyes. “Chi-chan?” Sho prompted worriedly. 

“...take me to Jun, please.” 

  1. ******Fear**



“SHO!” Davos’ frightened cry startled Sho into hurriedly looking around filming set for his daemon. They were taking a short break from their MV filming, but their daemons had left their humans momentarily to play. Despite the break being barely half an hour long, it was not unexpected that the five daemons would have ended up getting themselves in trouble in the process. 

Sho couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of his daemon clinging desperately onto the chandelier on set, the fixture swinging precariously. 

“You know you can’t deal with heights, Davos.” Sho admonished gently, shooting stern gazes at the other daemons. Behind him, he could hear the amused laughter of his bandmates as they came to view the commotion. “How did you get up there?” There was no obvious prop that could be have been used as a ladder, but Sho had an inkling that Takeharu and Chi-chan had something to do with it. Only those two were capable of managing pranks. 

Davos looked down at Sho with a guilty expression, beady eyes expressing his nervousness. 

“Davos.” Sho repeated, lips pursed in a frown.

“The ceiling rails?” 

Sho should have probably rescued him by now, especially with the fear leaking through to him from his daemon, but for now, Sho was not impressed. “Why, pray tell, would you do that?” 

The fact that Chi-chan was brushing innocently against his pant-leg heavily hinted to Sho that the feline was definitely involved. 

“...Takeharu told me that Chi-chan likes shiny things. The chandelier...” 

Sho had to hold back an exasperated sigh. Of course he would have gone to get shiny things for Chi-chan. 

  1. ******Façade**



Sho had to stop himself from flinching when Okada’s hyena daemon, Eimi, accidentally brushed against Davos. The river otter had stiffened and fled to Sho’s feet instantly, Sho ducking down to pick up the jittery daemon. His movements were stiff, and Okada - curse his sharpness - tilted his head meaningfully at the pair. 

They’ve worked with each other for too long, Sho thought, as he looked away from the thoughtful gaze that easily noticed Davos’ torn ear, instead of the piercing that had been there months ago. Okada had always been like the older brother Sho never had, rather than simply a senior in the agency. However, Sho chose to not speak about the  _ incident _ to anyone, no one in Arashi, and not even Okada was going to wrangle the truth from him. 

If anything, Sho rather pretend nothing had changed or happened; he and Davos was  _ not _ betrayed by his father, Davos did not have his piercing forcibly torn from his ear, Sho did not feel as though a part of his ear was missing until he had reached up and touched it. 

Eimi growled - in affection, not in warning - and ducked apologetically at Sho. 

_ Well fuck _ , Sho cursed internally. Okada definitely knew something.

But the older man merely smiled benevolently at him, and looked at his watch. “It’s been a while, Sho-kun. What do you say we have dinner together? You can tell me more about the drama you’re filming right now.” 

Davos nuzzled Sho’s hand, and looked up at Sho purposefully. “Can we, Sho? I haven’t played with Eimi in a while.”

“...Sure.” 

  1. ******Grass**



_ Hisssssss… _

The unsuspecting hercules beetle continued to scrape at the fallen log, its black horn glinting in the sunlight. A large birdwing butterfly landed nearby, and scuttled closer, but the beetle stubbornly ignored it as well, even as the butterfly landed on its elytra. 

The loud caw and flapping of wings sent the beetle into active panic, but before it could open up its wings and fly away, the poor bug found itself caught between the sharp talons of a crow.

“Found it!” Takeharu helpfully dumped the insect into Nino’s plastic cage, before perching on the branch next to his human. Nino threw his daemon a quick salute as he covered the cage immediately, before resuming his gaming under the shade of the tree. Behind a nearby tree, Sho and Jun were doing many unspeakable things that Nino rather not witness, although from the purring sounds above him, Nino could tell that it was bordering above PG. 

Thank goodness for private villas in Okinawa. 

“That’s not fair! Yukiko found it first!” Aiba complained as he ran over to the lazing Nino, who ignored him. 

“I found it first.” Amami corrected, slithering over to Nino’s leg and circled it. “Satoshi and I should win.” 

Nino tutted, ignoring the warmth that seeped into his chest from Amami briefly brushing against bare skin of his ankle. “Oh-chan is fishing, therefore he can’t win.” 

“Yukiko--”

“Finders keepers, losers weepers~” Takeharu sang from Aiba, to which Nino nodded smugly to as he successfully eliminated his enemies on his PS vita. Aiba blew a raspberry at him. 

“The five of you are noisy.” Chi-chan rumbled from her perched position, Davos tightly holding onto her scruff as he looked down nervously. Nino rolled his eyes. 

“Why not the four of you get a room instead?” 


	5. Prompt 41 to 50

  1. ******Grief**



_Continued from (44) Half…._

Grief is an emotion often associated with sadness; for Jun, the most striking memory of grief is not accompanied with sadness, rather with happiness.

Waking up to the familiar, _comforting_ weight of his soul resting on his chest was like coming home. Although Jun did feel as though he had been hit by truck - as he had been feeling for the past few days - nothing felt better than having his soul so near him, and no longer _hating_ him.

“Jun?”

Oh. He wasn’t alone.

Yukiko fluttered into his view (or, he thinks it is Yukiko, for all he sees is a green blob in front of him), and then someone hesitantly hugs him, as though afraid he’d break.

“How are you feeling?” Aiba’s voice was trembling, whispered into his ear, and while Jun felt as though he should probably reassure Aiba, there was a more pressing issue at hand.

“Chiharu. Is she…” he cleared his throat, voice hoarse, and forced himself to continue, “is she okay?”

Jun couldn’t sense her welfare, besides the vague feeling of tender companionship and acceptance from Chi-chan, and while he was glad that she was near him… he was frightened by the lack of awareness for Chi-chan’s health, or mental thought. He had never heard of separation doing this, but...

“She’s good. She’s asleep. Sho-chan took good care of her.” Aiba hurried to reassure him, guiding his hands to bury into the familiar coarse fur.  “You’ll be alright now.”

Sho took care of her. He would have taken good care of her.  

Jun couldn’t help the sudden surge of emotions when the feline stirred under his touch, rubbing against his hand. “J-Jun…” Chi-chan sounded extremely upset, guilty, the emotions _finally_ leaking through, just ever so slightly, and Jun felt choked up with emotions - in guilt, in horror, in relief, he wasn’t sure from which -  as she crawled forward, and rubbed her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, vision swimming at the action, but nothing felt better than having her close to him again. “I’m sorry, Chi-chan. I…” ‘ _tried to hide my emotions, and you hated that, because you knew that wasn’t good for me, or for the people around me. I denied myself, and you, things I wanted because I thought it was the best of us both, but you knew I was lying to myself, and to you. I should have never lied to you, because no one can lie to their soul, to their closest companion, and to do so is to betray yourself._ ’

“I know. I’m sorry too.”

It was like a dam breaking, years of pent-up self denial and self-hate pouring out of Jun as he held onto her - he hasn’t done that in over a year - and cried into her fur.

  1. ******Trickster**



Nino did not understand why his mother looked upon him with a face of fright when he came home from school, the just-settled-Takeharu perched on his shoulder, slightly too oversized for his twelve year old self.

Was it because Takeharu was a crow, and bird daemons usually had a bad reputation? Nino scarcely thought so, for his mother had always told him not to discriminate against daemons, even the smallest ones. Or perhaps because crows were harbingers of death - that was what earned him those terrified looks in school today; Nino found the fear stupid and unnecessary. If crows were a symbol of anything, it was of trickery and wisdom. He was glad that Takeharu settled into a crow, and it fit him very well… even if that meant they could no longer pull the twin pranks they used to do before.

That’s alright. They can figure out new tricks to play on others.

The reasons for her fear became clear to him, no more than a day later, when Takeharu tried to fly ahead of Nino, and it was barely five seconds when the sharp pain of separation, of _too far_ , hits Nino straight in the chest, and he cried out in pain.

They could have forgone the separation process if they wanted to. But Takeharu was a bird daemon, and to shackle him to the ground with his human was like forcing Nino himself to be caged.

 _Separation_.

Just the brief distance of what was twenty metres made Nino want to hold tight to Takeharu, and not let him go, the ache in his chest barely soothed by the ruffling of Takeharu’s primary feathers against his cheek. But separation? That required… _days_ , a collective number of days when they had to be forcibly apart by hundreds of metres, until the bond between them stretched, until the pain of having his soul far away felt like a twinge, rather than a punch in the stomach.

Assuming they could go through the pain. He understood his mother’s horror now.

“I’m sorry.” Takeharu softly confessed to Nino the first time they tried to separate. Takeharu had flown less than a hundred metres, and remained perched in the tree for an hour as Nino fought the pain in his head and chest, hands tightly gripping his GameBoy as he tried to clear the level in hope of distracting himself.

His character died many times - and Nino spent the next day ill and unable to get out of bed, only feeling soothed by Takeharu’s presence.

“We’ll have to do it again, Nino.”

Nino didn’t want to. But he had to.

“When we’re done with all of this… we’re going to make sure we scare everyone around us, pretending that I’ve lost my daemon, okay?”

  1. ******Entwined**



“Pretty.” Sho sighed into Jun’s hand, clasped in his, their hands resting between them. The duvet had been pulled up to their waist, the pair still feeling _extremely_ _warm_ from their prior activities, and their daemons were cuddled up together at the foot of the bed, thankfully on top of the blanket and not on their bare skin, for Sho doubted they could go for another round.

Maybe tomorrow.

“Who? Davos?” Jun mumbled sleepily, shuffling closer to Sho to rest his head in the crook of Sho’s shoulder, legs slotting perfectly between Sho’s.

“I resent that.” Davos chittered softly, his following response muffled by Chi-chan’s paw resting on his head to shut him up.

“No. You, of course.” Sho turned slightly to properly embrace Jun, smiling like a fool to himself, as he felt Jun return the hug and nuzzle into his skin.

“You charmer.”

  1. ******Half**



_Continued from Pretense (37)...._

Ohno couldn’t help but sigh in relief when colour returned to Jun’s face the moment Sho lowered the shivering mass that was Chi-chan on Jun’s chest. Both of them weren’t conscious as Sho did so, but as Aiba reached over to rest Jun’s limp hand on the feline’s fur, the pair shuddered so visibly that the rest of them had to worry for a moment that they were seizing.

Then, ever so slightly, did Jun’s fingers twitch and bury themselves in short coat. The pair seemed to almost sink altogether on the bed, and Jun’s face smoothed to the most relaxed state Ohno had ever seen in a very long time, even if Jun still looked horribly small in that hospital bed.

Sho had sunk to his knees in relief, hands holding tight to Davos. “Thank god. I was so worried…”

Aiba had reached to hug Sho, eyes tearing up, and next to Ohno, Nino imperceptibly leaned into Ohno.

Things could only get better from now, now that they were back together again.

  1. ******Coarse**



“Jun?” Sho hesitantly peeked into their ‘office’. Chi-chan was nowhere to be seen, and Sho figured that she was likely sulking, as she had been for the past few days. Jun was pouring over their latest concert plans, finger tapping the frame of his glasses distractedly, while Davos gingerly wriggled around Sho’s ankles to Jun.

“Hmm?” Jun made a small note on the papers, before looking up at Sho questioningly. “What’s up?”

Sho licked his lips nervously, stepping into the room and closing the door quietly behind him. He kept his voice low as he asked, “Um, it’s about Chi-chan.”

“What about her?”

“She’s been… growly at me. And at Davos.”

“Has she?” Jun sounded amused as he highlighted another section on the concert plans, reaching down momentarily to pick the river otter up from the ground. Sho tried his best to ignore the warm coil of pleasure at Jun’s touch, shivering slightly as he nodded.

“She has. I’m just wondering if you knew… why? And how I could fix it?” Sho hoped he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt, but the feline had been glaring at him for days, refusing to let him or Davos get close to her. It was making Davos upset, and in turn making Sho upset as well, because he missed having the overly-affectionate Chi-chan purring as she left cat fur on his clothes.

“Well, it might have had something to do with that recent photoshoot of yours.”

Sho blinked. “What? The rabbit one?”

Jun nodded distractedly, and Davos hissed at his human. “I told you it had to do with the rabbit!”

“It’s a rabbit!” Sho defended.

“I told you she’d get angry that you had to pick up a rabbit.”

“And I’m trying to work so will you both take this outside?” Jun sighed, rubbing his eyes. Sho and Davos apologized instantly, Sho walking over to squeeze Jun’s shoulders soothingly.

“Sorry, Jun. Thank you for your help. Don’t work too hard.”

“Hurry up with Chi-chan, will you? The last thing I want is for her emotions to leak over to me and I end up getting jealous over a rabbit.” Jun shot Sho a steely look, and Sho grimaced, quickly seizing Davos and nodding apologetically.

The pair gingerly made their way to the bedroom, where Chi-chan was grooming herself on the bed. Her ears pricked up at their entrance, then she pointedly looked away when Sho nervously sat on the bed. He was a good distance away from her, as though afraid that the feline would reach over and swipe at him.

“Chi-chan.” Sho carefully started, then paused when she rumbled warningly. “Chi-chan. Come on, are you going to sulk all week?”

“Maybe I will.” Her tail swished warningly at Sho’s face. Davos chittered unhappily, nuzzling her neck, but earning no response.

“Chiharu…I’m sorry about the rabbit. It was given to me, you know. Really just a prop.”

“Don’t pretend you weren’t all over it.”

Sho bit his lip. He would be lying if he said no, but at the same time, he knew it wouldn’t help his case if he said he _was_ all over it.

Basically, Sho was _fucked_.

“I… might have been?” Chi-chan’s fur visibly bristled at the response, and Sho hurried to add, “but I prefer you, of course. Not a silly rabbit, with no personality whatsoever. Davos agrees, don’t you?”

“Yep!” Davos wriggled closer to her, glad that at least this time, she wasn’t moving away from him. He pressed his wet nose to her cheek, and timidly licked the fur there in half apology. “Rabbit had zero personality whatever. Its only appeal was the soft fur, but that’s it, really.”

“...soft…fur?”

Sho suddenly felt the urge to wring the neck of his own daemon - not possible, Sho knew, but was Davos trying to dig their grave?

“So my fur is rough, isn’t it?” Chi-chan sounded upset as she shrugged the river otter off her shoulder, and Sho glared at his daemon accusingly. If they didn’t make nice to her soon, Sho would have to make nice to an annoyed Jun as well, and he rather that didn’t happen in the first place.

“There’s nothing wrong with th--”

“What Davos means to say,” Sho hurriedly interrupted before Davos dug them a deeper grave, “is that, your fur is perfect the way it is and we prefer Chi-chan to a rabbit with no personality whatsoever.”

Chi-chan did not respond for a few seconds, and then, “You like me better?” Her voice was small, and Sho somehow felt like an asshole despite having apologized over a _rabbit_.

“You know I love you, Chi-chan.” Sho offered his arms to her, and Chi-chan instantly jumped into his lap, rumbling affectionately as she pressed herself as close as she could. Sho gently hugged her back, soothing the bristling fur with long strokes and shivering when he felt Jun’s and Chi-chan’s emotions with every stroke. Jun was likely going to kill Sho for distracting him while he was trying to work, but it was late anyway, so if touching Chi-chan would make him come to bed (even if it wasn’t for _sleep_ ), it was totally worthy it.

“I missed you.” She whined, licking underneath his jaw as Sho scratched the base of her ears. Davos pressed close to the pair, not wanting to be left out. Not that he would be left out, if Sho’s guess was accurate and that was Jun he heard walking towards the room.

“Really, Sho?” Jun grumbled when he took a good look at the scene on the bed, already removing his shirt. His eyes were gentle when he took in the scene, but there was an unmistakeable arousal from having his daemon touched by Sho. “Did you forget that daemon-touching went both ways?”

Sho offered a hand to Jun the same time Davos shot off to Jun. “I’ll give the both of you anago sushi tomorrow.”

“For the rest of the week.”

  1. ******Saliva**



_Continued from Lithium (35)..._

Otter fur was far softer than they appeared to be, Jun noted distractedly, as he sank his fingers in Davos’ dry fur, and moaned softly at the sudden insurgence of feelings that washed over him. They were foreign emotions - not his, no - but they felt so much like _Sho_ , that it was undeniable, who or where those feelings were from. That was alright; Jun would take anything Sho offered him, even if they had only been in a relationship for just slightly over a week.

The depth of Jun’s adoration for Sho had lasted far longer than the short courtship they had, having bloomed every since they had freshly debuted, even if majority of time, it had been an unrequited relationship.

He could hear Sho panting from over at his seat, but Jun could barely muster up the smugness that he could affect Sho like that, especially when Sho’s hand met Chi-chan’s fur.

Jun did not expect the sudden intensification of emotions, warmth coiling in his chest and making him crave for Sho. The sensation was odd, for Chi-chan’s emotions don’t leak through to him as much since their separation; yet, here they were, and they were so strong…

He wasn’t sure which felt better, touching Davos, Sho’s soul, or embracing Sho, his physical being. Unfortunately, Sho was too far, and it was easier to just hold Davos closer to him, heart beating wildly in his chest and loud in his ears.

“Jun.” Sho’s strangled voice drew Jun’s attention momentarily away from Davos, the river otter still nuzzling against his jaw. Jun was startled by how _dark_ Sho’s eyes were, Chi-chan circling his feet as he briskly walked over. Jun didn’t even notice when Sho had stopped touching Chi-chan, but now that he noticed it, and Davos had shrugged off his hold to patter off to the feline, Jun felt the emptiness strongly. He could only stay in his seated position on the floor, hands limp on his lap as he stared at Sho with uncertainty, and _want_.

He wants to feel Sho again, either his soul, or at least…

Sho seized Jun by his wrist and roughly tugged him up. Jun grunted in surprise when his back (painfully) met the wall, wrists pinned against the wall as Sho seized his lips in a searing kiss, tongue forcibly parting Jun’s lips to demand entry. Jun’s hands fought Sho’s grip, freeing them and swiftly looping them around Sho’s shoulders to hold him closer as he understood the sudden display of passion. He wanted Sho, as much as Sho wanted Jun as close as him as possible. Closer than their sudden position, with Sho’s hips pressed against Jun’s, their hard-ons meeting and grinding against each other in an almost frenetic motion of need and desire.

“S-Sho, Sho, I want,” Jun panted out between the furious kisses and tongues running over teeth. He found himself unable to properly articulate the sudden desire to have Sho nearer than _near_ , the feel of Sho’s naked skin against his. The only thing he could manage was to untuck Sho’s shirt to sneak a hand underneath, feeling the warm skin under his palm tremble in need as Sho sucked Jun’s bottom lip in response.

“Might I suggest the two of you move to the sofa? I suspect it’ll be a lot more comfortable.” Sho growled at the sound of the familiar, _annoying_ bird, while Jun rolled his eyes. “Also, I’ll get a better look to report to Nino.”

“Nino! Get your fucking crow out of here before I make Jun cook him for dinner!” Sho shouted in the direction of the door, shooting a furious glare at Takeharu, who was perched atop the fluorescent light as he watched the pair cheerfully (if birds could watch cheerfully, at least).

Jun cupped Sho’s cheek to pull him in another kiss, seemingly unaffected by the presence of an avian voyeur. “Perhaps.... We could move this to your place?”

Sho’s eyes darkened further at the suggestion as he wrapped an arm around Jun’s waist, and he almost hurriedly tugged Jun out of the door, their daemons following behind. Of course, they were immediately faced by a wall of Ohno, Nino and Aiba when the door swung open; a wall that did not last very long once Jun proceeded to glare at the trio.

He was going to have an incredibly good night today, and three musketeers will not be stopping him or Sho.

  1. ******Closer**



_Continued from (49) Grace…._

“No, here.” Ohno lightly gripped Nino’s wrist, the other arm wrapping around his hip to adjust his position just incrementally. From his position, Nino could feel Ohno’ warm breath puffing against the back of Nino’s neck, and hear the almost silent hiss of Amami, likely curled around her human’s neck like an errant necklace. “It’s this position at the fourth beat, and then 5, 6, 7, 8…” Ohno slowly guided his arms in the motions of the dance, albeit at a slower pace.

Nino wouldn’t deny that he had intentionally planned the whole I-don’t-know-this-step-really-well, teach-me-please routine so that the pair would have so alone time together after rehearsal. However, he never really expected Ohno to physically _guide_ him, and the unexpected closeness made Nino blush (although he’d vehemently deny this). All he wanted was to have some private time with Ohno, but he never expected Ohno to veer from his typical style of teaching (which really was, demonstrate, rather than guide).

“You’re distracted.”

The faint whisper directly into his ear sent Nino jumping a feet into the air, and he looked accusingly at the amused Ohno and Amami. “I’m not. You’re just... just…”

“...Too close.” Takeharu helpfully finished his sentence, and this time, it was the crow that earned the baleful glare of his human. _How dare Takeharu betray him_ , Nino fought to pout his lips, knowing it might give away his feelings if he did so.

“Shall I… step back then?” Ohno curiously asked, eyes wide and innocent.

“No!”

Ohno _was_ too close, but that wasn’t to say Nino didn’t _like it_.

“Oh?” Ohno tilted his head cutely, and Nino found himself looking away. “You don’t mind me coming closer then?”

A faint shuffle, followed by a warm hug set Nino’s heart racing, especially when Ohno rests his head on Nino’s shoulder. Nino poked Ohno’s side, pouting when Ohno barely budged, merely squeezing Nino tighter. “Oi. I’m not a teddy bear.”

He heard a breathy chuckle, then froze when Ohno pressed a kiss to his cheek, Amami’s tongue flicking out to brush against his jawbone simultaneously. “You know you like it, Kazu.”

  1. ******December**



“Aiba, Jun-pon, did the two of you ransack a liquor store or what?” Nino’s eyes were wide as he took in the selection of various bottles, lined up nicely along Jun’s kitchen counter. The coffee machine that was usually there had been moved to an empty shelf space, and in it’s place, was several glasses that ranged from coupe glasses to typical glass tumblers.

Jun rolled his eyes from where he was washing their dinner plates with Sho, who seemed unfazed at the sheer variety of alcohol. Nino surmised that Sho was likely pulled into helping them with the shopping, but when Aiba and Jun informed the three that they were planning Christmas-slash-Aiba’s birthday party, Nino assumed he meant that there was going to be excellent food, wine and beer afterwards.

Not a rendition of Aiba’s Bartender.

Ohno sat eagerly in front of Aiba, joining the other five daemons who were perched on one seat next to him, stacked in their typical order of Chi-chan, Davos, Takeharu and Amami. Yukiko was naturally attached to the vase containing her bouquet of summer flowers. It always amazed Nino how the four (sometimes five) of them could balance themselves perfectly, but then again, the five of them (or ten of them) have been together for over a decade now.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve actually made a drink for anyone, so I thought it’d be nice to do it over Christmas, don’t you think so?” Aiba calmly unpacked the shaker set he had been gifted after the end of the drama filming of Bartender, setting the shaker down almost reverently. “How nostalgic.”

Ohno tugged Nino down before he could say anything else. “Thank you, Aiba-chan. Try not to get us too drunk, will you? We do have Kouhaku rehearsal tomorrow afternoon.”

Aiba giggled, and popped open the first wine bottle. “Sasakura Ryu would never do that.”

  1. ******Grace**



Sometimes, Nino couldn’t help but feel jealous whenever he sees Ohno dancing. That wasn’t to say that Nino thought he himself was bad at dancing, no - everyone in Arashi was good at dancing, but Ohno… he had a certain grace to his motions that no one else in the band could match with.

Next to Ohno, Nino always felt slightly clumsier, unable to attain the same form and beauty Ohno practically exuded when he danced, be it pop-lock dancing, or modern ballet. And his expression as he danced… serious eyes, sweat building from the exertion, lips either slightly pursed or slightly parted; either of those, Nino wanted to kiss.

“Nino? Aren’t you going home?” Nino blinked when Ohno waved a casual hand in front of his face. Nino had completely missed it when Jun had decided to end practice, the studio now empty besides the two of them.

Nino blinked at the closeness of Ohno’s face to his, then grabbed his wrist to stop his waving action.

“Hey, Oh-chan.”

“Un?”

“Could you show me the dance for the bridge?”

  1. ******Tempest**



If there was anything they enjoyed to the most during concerts, it would be making the fans go _wild_ by letting their daemons play with each other, _blatantly_ , on stage, in front of 55 000 fans, and even more fans once their DVD was released.

 _Human_ fanservice was one thing, like hugs and handholds and cheek-kisses - that was enough to get the crowd stirring… but _daemon_ fanservice.

Like their typical daemon stack which fans think is adorable, but don’t realize is something that happens almost every other work day when one of them starts getting lazy (‘It’s OT5!’), or Chi-chan, Amami or Davos wearing Yukiko as a hair-pin or ‘bow-tie’ (‘Junba!’, ‘Ohba!’, ‘Sakuraiba!’), or Amami curling around Takeharu’s neck and letting the crow run his beak down her fine scales (‘OHMIYA!’), or whichever combination that would make any fan go mad with guesses and theories of who was with who.

Of course, it didn’t really matter to them, for at the end of the day it was the ten of them - five humans, five daemons, getting satisfaction from making their fans happy. Regardless of how tired they were from months of hard planning and rehearsals, photoshoots and interviews, whenever they stepped onto the stage and witnessed the sea of fans, all with their blinking penlights cheering for them… Nothing could compare.

There they were, the stadium a tempest of music and movement, of grace and charm, of daemons and humans bonding over a storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is done. ^^, sorry for dragging it out, but these two months (May and June) was and will be unkind to me with deadlines and presentations (Oh student life, must you really?), but I hope you have enjoyed reading Transcendent :)

**Author's Note:**

> Explanation of name choices:  
> 天海, Amami - The kanji means sky ocean. It can also mean ocean and rain, 雨海.  
> Davos - LOL I gave Sho's daemon an english name. There is no real explanation for why I gave him Davos, except that the area I was in on my Spring vacation (i.e. the mountain era lol) was called Davos. Also, a friend gladly referred me to Davos Seaworth, from GoT, so you can pretend I derived it from there :3  
> 幸子, Yukiko - Means child of happiness, or, an alternative kanji would be snow child, referring to Aiba's birthday.  
> 丈晴, Takeharu - means fair, and is also... a name of video game developer and music composer working for Square Enix (Final fantasy etc).  
> 千春, Chiharu - means a thousand springs, basically to complement the 松 (matsu), i.e. pine, in Jun's name, which is a symbol of longevity.
> 
> (If you'd like to find me, I'll be hiding under the rock.)


End file.
